Tuesday, May 20, 2008

AoC is an exciting game to play and is the cause of my absence lately.

Smoothest game (MMORPG) launch I have ever been apart of, despite a
couple of issues, and I have been there at just about every launch in
the last decade. No crashes, no lag, no roll backs. So now the pros and
cons!

Pros:
The game has lovely graphics.
The sound is remarkable. Music, ambiance, voice acting, all of it.
The game mechanics are innovative and intuitive.
Combat isn't a complete snore fest.
There is no auto attack.
Instancing alleviates zone lag and crashing.
Quests are group-friendly.
The lore is superb based on the works of Howard.
The game's plot is grade A.
The emotes are amusing and smooth.
Crafting is complex and the rewards are great.
The economy seems heavily player based.
Mounted combat.
The dance system is very unique and fun.

Cons:
Despite the game's lovely graphics, customization is lacking.
The game mechanics make combos slow and occasionally useless in PVP.
Due to no auto attack I actually have to pay attention all of the time.
Instancing can cause some initial confusion amongst groupmates and guildies.
Also instancing means less people to talk to/kill per area.
There are no custom emotes (currently).
You cannot craft until level 40.
Money is very hard to come by.
There are some glaring class imbalances that have yet to be worked on (most bug-induced).
Dancing isn't friendly to all races/genders. Some people look downright ridiculous.

All in all it's a great game that could use some polish. Even with the current state of the game I'd recommend it,
it's fun.

Edit: The game has gotten progressively worse in the months following
launch. So much so that the game now has a free-to-play option (with
limited classes and races available unless you pay-to-play, even if you had them maximum level previously).